skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Miniature High-Voltage DC-DC Power Converters for Space and Micro-Robotic Applications
We develop a small and lightweight high-voltage high-gain power converter for applications where weight and size are premium. By driving a Dickson and Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier with a megahertz-frequency class-E inverter, we implement two converters, one that achieves 40 V-to-2 kV conversion with 16 cm3 box volume and the other that achieves 3.7 V-to-2.9 kV conversion with 0.2 cm3 box volume and 0.49 g weight. Presented converters achieve comparable or better power density and specific power to those of commercial high-voltage power supplies.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1808489
PAR ID:
10171610
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
2019 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; (, 2019 20th Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL))
    This paper presents the design of a compact 45 V-to-54 kV dc-dc converter for high-energy beam applications with the focus on X-ray generation. We describe key design choices for a high power density including a modular structure, high-frequency switching, planar transformers and Dickson topology. High-voltage insulation and thermal management are also described in detail. The experimental data with a 5 kV single module and a 10-module 54 kV converter indicate that the proposed structure can generate high dc voltage while achieving a several times higher power density compared to commercial high-voltage power supplies. 
    more » « less
  2. ; (, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications)
    Battery energy storage systems are widely used for renewable power generation and electric transportation systems. Bidirectional DC-DC converters (BDCs) are key components in such systems, enabling bidirectional power flow in battery charging and discharging modes. BDCs can be categorized into isolated and non-isolated. Non-isolated BDCs have lower volume, weight, and power losses, suitable for compact structures without needing galvanic isolation. In this paper, a comprehensive literature review is conducted for non-isolated BDCs, covering soft switching, current ripple reduction, high voltage gain and resiliency techniques. Soft switching aims to reduce switching losses and improve efficiency, including auxiliary circuits and non-auxiliary methods, such as interleaved structures, phase-shift modulation, and synchronous rectification. Current ripple reduction focuses on capacitive loop configurations, interleaved structures, and coupled inductor-based methods. Batteries are low-voltage power sources, BDCs can increase the output voltage to a level required by the applications through an appropriate voltage gain, and high voltage gain techniques include capacitor-based, magnetic-based, and combined networks, and mixed structures. Resiliency is explored to ensure reliable operations under adverse conditions. This review provides valuable insights into developing more efficient, reliable, and high-performance BDCs, addressing the evolving demands of modern energy systems. Future research directions in non-isolated BDCs are recommended in this paper. 
    more » « less
  3. ; (, IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC))
    null (Ed.)
    Efficient high-conversion-ratio power delivery is needed for many portable computing applications which require sub-volt supply rails but operate from batteries or USB power sources. In such applications, the power management unit should have a small volume, area, and height while providing fast transient response. Past work has shown favorable performance of hybrid switched-capacitor (SC) converters to reduce the size of needed inductor(s), which can soft-charge high-density SC networks while supporting efficient voltage regulation [1-5]. However, the hybrid approach has its own challenges including balancing the voltage of the flying capacitor and achieving safe but fast startup. Rapid supply transients, including startup, can cause voltage stress on power switches if flying capacitors are not quickly regulated. Past approaches such as precharge networks [3] or fast balancing control [5] have startup times that are on the order of milliseconds. This paper presents a two-stage cascaded hybrid SC converter that features a fast transient response with automatic flying capacitor balancing for low-voltage applications (i.e., 5V:0.4 to 1.2V from a USB interface). The converter is nearly standalone and all gate drive supplies are generated internally. Measured results show a peak efficiency of 96.9%, <; 36mV under/overshoot for 1A/μs load transients, and self-startup time on the order of 10μs (over 100× faster than previous works). 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; (, International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications)
    Summary Inductive power transfer has become an emerging technology for its significant benefits in many applications, including mobile phones, laptops, electric vehicles, implanted bio‐sensors, and internet of things (IoT) devices. In modern applications, a direct current–direct current (DC–DC) converter is one of the essential components to regulate the output supply voltage for achieving the desired characteristics, that is, steady voltage with lower peak ripples. This paper presents a switched‐capacitor (SC) DC–DC converter using complementary architecture to provide a regulated DC voltage with an increased dynamic response. The proposed topology enhances the converter efficiency by decreasing the equivalent output resistance to half by connecting two symmetric SC single ladder converters. The proposed converter is designed using the standard 130‐nm BiCMOS process. The results show that the proposed architecture produces 327‐mV DC output with a rise time of 60.1 ns and consumes 3.449‐nW power for 1.0‐V DC supply. The output settling time is 43.6% lower than the single‐stage SC DC–DC converter with an input frequency of 200 MHz. The comparison results show that the proposed converter has a higher power conversion efficiency of 93.87%and a lower power density of 0.57 mW/mm2compared to the existing works. 
    more » « less
  5. ; (, IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems)
    null (Ed.)
    This paper presents an analytical model for calculating the output voltage and the power efficiency of multi-stage multi-output (MSMO) DC-DC converters (DDC) that use charge pump cells for boosting the voltage. Various cases such as multi-output current consumption and its effects on the output voltage and the power efficiency are studied. Based on the model, a tapered design approach is proposed that can bolster the power efficiency and lower the output voltage drop of MSMO DDCs. Moreover, a charge-pump-based DDC is introduced and designed to verify the proposed model. Simulation results using a standard high-voltage 180-nm CMOS technology affirms the accuracy of the presented model. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email